Washington Trust Wealth Management Blog

January is prediction season as every investment house, including our own, gives their market forecast for the next 12-months. Many of their arguments for why investments will go up or down are well laid out based on current facts. Many Wall Street firms today are looking for modest stock market gains in 2016, with concerns over the global economy, a strong U.S. Dollar and rising interest rates as the primary headwinds keeping a lid on growth.

Washington Trust Wealth Management announced that Kathleen A. Ryan, Esq. has been named senior vice president, Wealth Management Client Services, Trust and Estate Services. She will join Washington Trust Wealth Management in December from the law firm Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP where she was partner and chair of the Trusts and Estates group.

This quarter’s newsletter highlights our annual outlook for the global economy and capital markets. We believe there will be continued moderate growth in 2016, despite some significant headwinds from energy prices and geopolitical risks that will trigger volatility during the year.

Financial markets have had a difficult start to 2016 to say the least. Similar to last August, the proximate cause for the market swoon has been a weakening of the Chinese currency, which in theory is pegged to the dollar. Monetary authorities in China, who are in the process of opening up their economy and financial system, have had little choice but to ratchet the peg lower due to slowing economic growth or risk being overwhelmed by market forces.

The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and may not reflect those of Washington Trust Wealth Management. The information in this report has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but its accuracy and completeness are not guaranteed. Any opinions expressed herein are subject to change at any time without notice. Any person relying upon this information shall be solely responsible for the consequences of such reliance. Performance is historical and does not guarantee future results.

Such information does not constitute legal or professional advice as all situations are unique and are based on individual facts and circumstances.

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By accessing the noted link you will be leaving Washington Trust Wealth Management's website and entering a website hosted by another party. Washington Trust is not responsible for, nor do we control, endorse or guarantee the content of any external sites. Please be advised that you will no longer be subject to, or under the protection of, the privacy and security policies of Washington Trust's website. We encourage you to read and evaluate the privacy and security policies of the site you are entering, which may be different than those of Washington Trust Wealth Management.

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